# Performance: Slow Startup, Workspace Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Tags:** performance\ **Created:** [March 2, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/performance-slow-startup-workspace-question/111801 "2026-03-02T19:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Type-IIx](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/type-iix/32/79036_2.png) [@Type-IIx](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Type-IIx)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/performance-slow-startup-workspace-question/111801/1 "2026-03-02T19:42:07Z")
First, search the [help docs](https://help.obsidian.md) and this forum. Maybe your question has been answered! The [debugging steps](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/about-the-bug-reports-category/24/11) can help, too. Still stuck? Delete this line and proceed. ### What I’m trying to do Work in Obsidian, it’s the most important tool that I use. Its performance is severely degraded and I cannot use it, practically. I have been dealing with severe performance issues with Obsidian. Startup time is long, it’s slow. ### Things I have tried ```auto ``` I did just rebuild the index but startup time is mostly related to the size of my vault and the workspace memory consumption. Before I go and buy a new MacBook Pro, which will be a challenge financially, I hope you might help: #### Obsidian start-up time breakdown Obsidian version: 1.12.4 Installer version: 1.8.4 Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 24.6.0: Mon Jan 19 22:00:10 PST 2026; root:xnu-11417.140.69.708.3~1/RELEASE\_X86\_64 24.6.0 - Total startup time: 8,647ms - Initialization: 745ms - Vault (3,266 files): 1,603ms - Workspace (21 tabs, 19 deferred): 3,155ms - Core plugins: 141ms - Community plugins (49 active): 3,003ms - Numerals (1.5.5): 433ms - Telegram Sync (4.0.0): 405ms - Note Linker (1.2.7): 302ms - Zotero Integration (3.2.1): 160ms - Tasks (7.23.1): 133ms - Admonition (10.3.2): 120ms - Omnisearch (1.28.2): 106ms - Proletarian Wizard Task Manager (1.9.0): 103ms - CardBoard (0.7.9): 100ms - Periodic Notes (0.0.17): 99ms - Importer (1.8.4): 93ms - Linter (1.31.0): 80ms - Dataview (0.5.68): 76ms - Metadata Menu (0.8.12): 69ms - Templater (2.18.1): 59ms - Timestamp Notes (1.0.8): 58ms - Advanced Tables (0.22.1): 51ms - Advanced Copy (0.10.0): 50ms - Iconic (1.1.8): 42ms - Pandoc Plugin (0.4.1): 26ms - Heading Shifter (1.10.2): 25ms - Update time on edit (2.4.0): 25ms - Floating Search (4.1.1): 21ms - Text Transporter (1.0.12): 21ms - Better Search Views (0.3.0): 20ms - Note Refactor (1.8.2): 20ms - Quick Switcher++ (6.0.0): 19ms - Colored Tags (6.1.1): 18ms - Lemons Search (0.4.3): 15ms - Tag Wrangler (0.6.4): 15ms - Pane Relief (0.5.9): 14ms - Dynamic Outline (1.19.0): 12ms - BBCode Convertor (1.2.0): 11ms - YTranscript (1.3.0): 9ms - Rich Text Editor Shortcuts (1.0.6): 9ms - Print (0.3.9): 8ms - Automatic Table Of Contents (1.8.0): 7ms - Post Webhook (1.2.5): 5ms - SupSub (1.1.0): 5ms - Readability Score (0.1.5): 4ms - Image Captions (1.1.7): 4ms - Footnote Shortcut (0.1.3): 4ms - Nested tags graph (1.0.4): 4ms - Frontmatter Tag Suggest (0.4.1): 4ms - TOC compatible with Publish (3.2.0): 4ms - Excel to Markdown Table (0.4.0): 4ms - PDF Paste (1.0.0): 3ms - Tidy Footnotes (0.1.2): 3ms - Mark and Select (1.0.2): 3ms I don’t want to disable any more plugins, I use them all. I need my files, I search them all. It says I have 22 tabs open but here’s what I’m looking at: ![Screen capture - Obsidian workspace](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/c/f/cf52f884b55ca46978abdc2d1e5fb276bc8843df.jpeg) I’m hoping someone sees some phantom split pane I can drag on to find these phantom tabs. Is there anything I can do? ---
**Author:** ![Pch](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/pch/32/8496_2.png) [@Pch](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Pch)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/performance-slow-startup-workspace-question/111801/2 "2026-03-02T20:50:12Z")
If I remember correctly, the amount of `tabs` (in the `Workspace`) the “startup time” mentions also includes the sidebar tabs. 🤔 **Edit:** This is what I remember seeing somewhere on Discord when the “Startup time” feature was implemented to one or another Catalyst/Insider release 😊 So, if I’m not mistaken (again 😅), the “21 tabs” represents the amount of open notes tabs + the tabs within both left and right sidebars. And from all those tabs only 2 were actually loaded when you launched Obsidian/open your vault (as 19 of them were deferred (for a bit later)). Sadly, I can’t really confirm this because the “Startup time” section in the doc: [here](https://help.obsidian.md/resources#Check+startup+time) only states: > - **Workspace** : Time to restore tabs and layout. When it comes to this: > [@Type-IIx](#): > > Is there anything I can do? I’m not sure 😔 … You could try to disable your potential CSS snippets and/or use the default theme to see if it helps ? Check if your theme/plugins are up-to-date ? You could maybe try to upgrade your installer ? (Although `1.8.4` isn’t that old but sometimes, it helps 🤷‍♀️ ) ---
**Author:** ![Type-IIx](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/type-iix/32/79036_2.png) [@Type-IIx](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Type-IIx)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 11:30pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/performance-slow-startup-workspace-question/111801/3 "2026-03-02T23:30:45Z")
Actually, that does make sense. When I count up my pinned, unpinned active, two sidebars, and the notes that are listed when I ⌘+O to find or create a new note it adds up. I’m due a new MacBook anyway, this one, as fantastic as it is having the high-end, final MBP that ran BootCamp on the Intel Core i9 so I can dual-boot and emulate Windows 11 in VMWare Fusion, I just can’t smoothly do all my content creative work. Thanks, you helped me understand! I also decided to stop being so stubborn, close the extra tabs, and just concentrate on one or three things at a time. Best, Cormac ---
**Author:** ![Sunnaq445](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sunnaq445](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/Sunnaq445)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/performance-slow-startup-workspace-question/111801/4 "2026-03-02T23:45:29Z")
The key may be the last active tab. If the file is really long, it can make Obsidian start up slowly. At a last resort, rename `workspace.json` in your .obsidian config folder (equivalent to a delete) and you get a fresh start, but then you need to add your sidebar tabs back again (or you can load a workspace if you saved one previously once you are in). Processor has nothing to do with this, I think. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://forum.obsidian.md/uploads/default/original/3X/b/e/bec35fbd23ab28909bb6bfe62cb32eb82dd34019.png) [@system](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/system)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/performance-slow-startup-workspace-question/111801/5 "2026-05-31T23:46:09Z")
Closed on May 31, 2026, 11:46pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.